• Medical Affairs

  Medical Waiver Program

  Corps Officers can have health conditions that make it unsafe for them to participate in or to complete some readiness requirements. The purpose of the Medical Waiver Program is to assist the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in implementing the Corps’ policy on medical and force readiness, while, at the same time, reducing the Officer’s risk of unintended injury or worsening of an existing medical condition. This program is administered by Medical Affairs (MA) within Commissioned Corps Headquarters. Approval of Medical Waiver requests is not guaranteed. MA has sole discretion of approval and time limitations of all medical waivers.

  An officer may require a temporary medical waiver due to a medical condition that, affects his/her health status or personal well-being. Such conditions may pose specific or general physical limitations or restrictions on the officer’s ability to reach optimal medical readiness. Therefore, officers may be medically exempt from meeting one or more of the standards for medical readiness and basic level of force readiness. These exemptions are only allowed when a valid medical reason exists which is supported by appropriate medical documentation.

  Long term renewable medical waivers may be granted for select permanent medical conditions. However, long term renewable waivers are not intended to permanently exempt officers from ever being deployed or having to complete the cardiorespiratory endurance section of the Annual Physical Fitness Testing (APFT)

  Medical waivers are personal exemptions from performing or engaging in one or more of the following activities:

  • Deployment;
  • Receiving one or more immunization;
  • Performance of all or part of the APFT;
  • Meeting weight standards;
  • Maintaining uniform requirements (e.g., beard waivers, shoe waivers);
  • Completing Basic Life Support training; or
  • Fulfilling other requirements necessary for meeting and/or maintaining the Basic level of force readiness.

  Types of Waivers

  • Temporary time-limited medical waivers may be granted for a documented health condition that is likely to improve within 12 months, or less, from the date that the request was received by MA.
  • Permanent long-term renewable medical waivers may be granted for conditions that are unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future. Examples of this type of waiver are for certain immunizations which are contraindicated in individuals with severe egg allergies or uniform (beard) waivers for individuals with certain chronic dermatologic conditions

  Clarification of Specific Medical Waivers

  • Pregnancy: Pregnancy waivers are in effect from the time of the receipt in MA of the documentation of pregnancy until six months after the anticipated date of delivery. Documentation must be from a healthcare provider and include a confirmatory laboratory test. A home pregnancy test is not sufficient documentation of pregnancy. Pregnancy waivers will automatically cover exemptions for deployment, all sections of the APFT, weight standards, Basic Life Support certification, and obtaining live virus vaccinations. The officer is expected to complete and meet all waived readiness requirements by the end of the month that the pregnancy waiver expires. At the end of the pregnancy waiver period, an officer may request (without providing additional documentation) an additional 3 month extension on the Weight Standards waiver portion of the Pregnancy waiver.
  • Breastfeeding: Breastfeeding waivers may be granted for deployment or training which requires the officer to leave her home for more than 48 hours. Breastfeeding waivers expire one year after the birth of the child or when the officer stops breastfeeding, whichever comes first. Breastfeeding is not a medical justification for waiving all or part of the APFT.
  • Corps Retention Weight Standards: Some medical conditions or treatments can contribute to changes in weight or difficulty gaining or losing weight. When an officer requests a weight standards waiver, his/her healthcare provider must submit to MA evidence based data from the scientific literature regarding the effects of the condition or treatment on weight. The officer must also provide a pretreatment weight. If a waiver is granted, the extent of relaxing the standards will be based on the documented effects of the treatment. MA will utilize peer reviewed medical literature to determine the effects of a treatment.

  Submission of a Medical Waiver Request

  Medical waiver requests should be submitted on the new Active Duty and Reserve Corps Medical Waiver Request form (312kb, pdf) accompanied by the required medical documentation from the officer’s provider(s). Upload these documents in eDOC-U, as a single PDF, under the Medical Affairs document category as “Request for Medical Waiver.” Log into the Officer Secure Area of this website to access eDOC-U.

  For more information, please contact Medical Affairs at: MACCHQ@hhs.gov
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